There were 17,261 full-time equivalent (FTE) police officers in Scotland on 30 September 2015.

This is an increase of 1,027 FTE police officers (+6.3%) from the 16,234 police officers recorded at 31 March 2007.

Police officer numbers have decreased by 11 FTE officers in the last quarter from 30 June 2015 (-0.1%), and have decreased by 6 FTE officers in the last year from 30 September 2014.

The figures released today were produced by professionally independent statistical staff free from any political interference, in accordance with professional standards set out in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

The quarterly bulletin reports the number of full-time equivalent police officers employed by Police Scotland as at 30 September 2015, and directly informs the Government's ongoing commitment to 1,000 extra police officers from the 16,234 police officers recorded at 31 March 2007.